Off On The Right Foot

It's already the second day of the new year. Time seems to fly by quickly these days. Every year people come up with new resolutions and every year, many of them end up breaking their resolutions within a short time. Unfortunately, resolutions are easier to make up than bad habits are to break. One of the all-too-common habits that are formed every year are the resolutions to get in shape and start eating right. You see evidence of it every year when we hit this post-holiday season period. Everyone is fresh off of holiday parties that have seemingly been going on since Thanksgiving. As the last of the leftovers disappear from the fridge you begin to realize just how much you've consumed; and the first time you step onto the scale you shudder as you see just how high the scale can go.

These first few days of the new year are always a crowded too. The gyms are packed with people and the sidewalks are nearly shoulder to shoulder with people too. Individuals who haven't ridden a bike since they delivered newspapers as kids are suddenly decked out like alternates for the Tour de France team. I should know, I have been among them. At one point I had been making similar resolutions and never following through and I came to realize a large part of that was due to the expectation of doing a lot in very little time. If you're looking to gain weight, there are so many delightful options to help you along that it is probably the easiest goal to accomplish. Taking it off isn't so easy, or as much fun.

When I began working my way towards that very goal I initially used to expect it to be something akin to a math equation. If I burn x amount of calories in y days I should then lose z pounds of weight. Unfortunately the body rarely if ever follows such exacting math equations. I began my new diet and exercise regimine in April of 2000 and by November of that same year I had lost 70 pounds. It wasn't a perfect slope by any means. That is to say that I didn't lose a steady stream of weight from the start of the process to the end. On the contrary, it was more like a flat line followed by a gradually increasing slope.

The first two or three months saw me losing minor amounts here and there. I would work out for an entire week and lose a pound by the end of the week only to 'gain' it back after the weekend. Much of this was water weight, but it was the psychological factor that made it frustrating. You would work out so much for so little and see it come back in no time. But I was determined to lose the weight. I continued my workouts and watching what I ate. I didn't become a grass eating machine, but I did eliminate soda and a large amount of sugar from my intake and as a result I began to see results.

In the interim I have seen people at the gym at the start of the year. They come in fully prepared with their workout clothes and equipment and take off running on all the machines, not fully understanding what they're doing. The first few days are always good because the body is exerting itself without realizing that this is pushing the limits of the body. You realize it a few days later when your whole body starts to ache from muscle pain and soreness. This is the point during which you normally see a sudden decline in gym participation. I feel bad for a lot of these people because they're there giving an honest effort but are getting frustrated by their own enthusiasm.

We're into the new year now and this evening when I go to the gym I'm sure I'll be seeing a whole new crop of strangers. In the coming weeks they'll slowly dwindle away until we have a handful of new faces interspresed with the old ones who come in almost daily. One can only hope that they will manage to stick it out and see that difference start to show through.